Do you find it difficult to write about summer gardening? I do. I feel the same way about summer after July 4th that I do about winter after December 25th. I love the two holidays, but the weather tends to get worse after each.
Sunlit morning garden. No hint of the 101F high to come this afternoon.
Summer in Oklahoma isn’t any fun. The plants know it. Gardeners know it. Even professional weather prognosticators know it. The only creatures who like an Oklahoma summer after the fireworks are the pollinators–but do they really? In July and August, pollinators work so hard they seem to know they don’t have much time. The only reason I garden in summer is for them–oh, and tomatoes and okra. I do like tomatoes and okra. A lot.
Dark mahogany sunflower with bumblebee. The other head ripens seeds for the birds.
Where I live, we joke about summer. We call it Hell. It is hot, dry and dusty most years, but I did have a couple of popup storms, complete with lightning show, night before last. They wet the Earth’s whistle for a day or two. Just because it rains doesn’t mean you don’t need to water–especially the pots. They dry out in a day, rain or not.
Bumblebee on Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe.’ This plant isn’t so little. In fact, mine is over six feet tall.
I’ll be glad to see summer go even though my days pass faster and faster as the years go by. As summer sighs into August, and the kids go back to school, my garden is full of daisy-like flowers waving their heads goodbye. Summer is the season of the sunflower, daisy or composite family, Asteraceae. These simple flowers are pollinator favorites because they are full of nectar. ‘Becky’ shasta daisies holding their white flowers aloft on their strong, straight stems. No flopping like ‘Alaska’ and other varieties. I think I’ll remove ‘Alaska’ this year. It no longer earns its place because it sprawls into the pathway. I can only stake so much.
Tiered border with ‘Becky’ shasta daisy and ‘Goldsturm’ blackeyed Susans. Both are popular with pollinators.
Perennial blackeyed Susans, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm,’ are at their peak. There is no easier flower to grow in a prairie garden than ‘Goldsturm,’ but in a wet year like 2015, it will try to take over. Cut it back after flowering so it won’t reseed and remove any plants straying into another’s territory. Otherwise, you’ll have three or four next year where now one resides. I usually do some thinning after I cut them back. Thinning in spring is easier though.
Sunflowers are still putting on new faces too, and the bees appreciate them. Zinnias are beloved by the butterflies. Both make a summer garden happier even when I don’t want to be outside.
While we’re indoors hunkered down under the ceiling fan, let’s start planning for fall which is right around the corner. In the early morning, go out and look at your garden for places that are bare. Summer is hard on plants and people, and you may have lost some things. Will an ornamental grass work in that spot? How about an aster, or a garden mum like ‘Sheffield?’
Hummingbird moth on ‘Bright Eyes’ phlox.
Maybe you’ll want more structure from a shrub or tree. Fall is a great time to plant a garden’s bones. Just don’t forget to water them in the winter. Any days over 40F, their roots are growing. Try to water them at least once a month if weather permits.
My garden will be on tour on October 17 courtesy of the Oklahoma Horticultural Society. The annual tour benefits Oklahoma college students studying horticulture. So, if you’ve wanted to visit, this would be a good time. Also, if you want a book, I can sign some for you too.
Hunker down, summer is nearly over, and beautiful fall is right around the corner. I can hardly wait.
Your summer sounds challenging. We are having a milder summer this year. It started out with too much rain (yes, there is such a thing) but now it’s more traditionally dry. So when that nasty storm blew in yesterday, I cheered. Two inches of rain fell in ten minutes! That will hold me for awhile. But that storm brought in the most beautiful, clear, cool(ish) day! Love summer either way.
Hey Robin, we started out with a cool and rainy summer too. I was so glad. We got your cold front, and today was simply lovely. I’m so grateful. I’ll take any day in the upper 80s that I can get. Happy gardening!
As I wiped the sweat from my brow yesterday with one dirty garden glove, I exclaimed out loud “I am ready for Fall!” But I have to laugh at that bare spot advice! I have not one little bare spot for a new plant but of course, I want new plants. And I fear because I didn’t cut back that Rudbeckia Laciniata the first few years, it has now overtaken my garden and I’m considering getting rid of it all together! Then, there is the cup plant also taking over and let me say these are both big boys! Overtaking shrubs and trees and all … why is it that August is when I want to do the most work in the garden? And August is just NOT the month to do it. Everything is in jungle mode or either declining and it is well, hot – maybe not as hot as “hell” but hot, humid, muggy, sticky, buggy. Whew! (Of course I do not mind Fall as much as I used to knowing I will escape the brut of Winter.)
Kathy, were you having a Gone With the Wind moment or what? Your comment made me laugh. I so get it. I worked outside today, and it is buggy indeed. So many bugs. I also have cup plant, and it’s is so big. Mine also reseeded last year, so I pulled out all the little seedlings this summer. There are times when it all feels like too, too much, but we’ll persevere. It’s what we gardeners do.
It’s nice to see you still have plenty of color left in the garden even with all the heat. Sun flowers just shrug off these summer days. It has been brutal this year after such a promising rainy spring. Getting ready for an October tour in this heat is no easy matter for you. Early morning gardening only. It’s always amazing to see phlox blooming in August but I have a gifted one too.
Hi Jenny, yes, this morning, I was wondering why I said yes to the tour. I just don’t know what the garden will look like in October. We’ll just have to see. Sometimes, the phlox bloom forever. Sometimes, they are done in July. Happy Blooms to you.
I feel your heat in Arkansas as well. I’ve had been out collecting seeds for next season but decided to sit in the air conditioner today. I went outside yesterday only to be drenched in a matter of thirty minutes. Not fun. I would love to visit your garden in October. What part of OK are you in?
Brenda
Hi Brenda, I live between Edmond and Guthrie. If you’re really planning on driving this way, email me, and I’ll give you directions when we get closer to that October 17th date. The humidity has been horrid this year, but the plants have rejoiced even if we haven’t.
It hasn’t been nearly as hot here, but I’ve still got the summer doldrums, and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. The most exciting thing in my garden right now is the ripening tomatoes–the only time my husband takes an interest in my garden:) I agree about the ‘Becky’ daisy–one of the easiest plants to grow, and it always looks good, well, except for deadheading, that is. I have another type of Rudbeckia that has invited itself into my garden and is beginning to take over. I will definitely thin that one out, but I am enjoying all its cheery blooms at the moment. Stay cool–fall will be here before you know it, Dee.
Rose, sometimes I feel like high summer is as bad here as high winter. I can’t do as much as I want outside, and it makes me definitely have the doldrums. Ah well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’ve done a lot of reading this summer which I love. That part is wonderful. Yes, deadheading and weeding still the chores of summer.
I remember living in Moore, OK and wearing high heels in the summer. In some parking lots, my heels would dig into the soft tar! Ah!!
And yes, okra is delicious.
Yes, Moore is hotter than where I live. It made me smile to read about high heels and asphalt. Oh yes, it did.
I live in the NE part of the state and we have had so much rain that the heat with the humidity is torturous. I need to plant some of those pollinator for next year.
Quiltkat, yes, so much rain. The humidity is a nightmare here too. I don’t know how people in Houston do it. Still, I’m grateful for the rain. My pond is much more full than it was.
You sure summer is almost over? Seems this year is even worse than the drought. What is it with that? We won’t see rain for another two weeks, maybe, down here in the piney woods of east Texas. We have water restrictions now even though this spring we were way above average in rain! Garden on, girl!
Haha Ann, I am sure of nothing. I’m just trying to be hopeful. Yet, I know I have to go out there and weed everyday before October. I have a tour coming. I can’t believe you guys already have water restrictions again. Here’s to nice, softly falling rain for fall in Texas. I’ll take a bit in Oklahoma too.
Gee I hadn’t thought about July 4th and Dec 25 being weather demarkations. That is something I will think about this winter. It sure has been hot and dry here too. Not you 100s but hot enough to have me and most of my garden calling Uncle. The Susans are abounding here now too. Such is August.
I don’t know Lisa about anyone else, but I’m bored after both holidays so that’s how I mark it. Haha. I love Christmas and Independence Day with a passion. The rest of the seasons after not so much.
Beautiful pics, Dee. I wish I could come for the tour of your garden!
Ooh Carol, I wish you could too.
I went far away from the house today to look at a tree destroyed by lightning yesterday. I saw signs of fall everywhere. August, like February, just holds the rest of the year together.
Okra. Yes. We eat it every day.
Nell Jean, I love the way you think of it. Yes, they do. I can’t wait to see the end of August, and the fruition of the garden’s grace.
Summer is almost over here. Low of 48 last night. Felt like fall this morning. But fall lasts a lot longer for you. Our trees will be bare by mid-October.
Kathy, I know with all the winter you get, your summers are extra special if extra short. You can come down here in fall if you want. It’s pretty magical in October.
I been wondering what variety of Shasta Daisy didn’t sprawl. There are some outside my favorite restaurant in Muskogee the Harmony House that look stunning in Summer. I need to plant some.
So done with summer and ready for fall.
Hey Annie dear! ‘Becky’ won’t disappoint. It never sprawls, and it’s nice and tall. You can also find it almost everywhere anymore. If you can’t find it, come by, and I’ll give you a start.